The Wall Street Joural reports on the decision Olympic athletes may have to make about wearing carbon-filter masks in the opening of the Olys in Beijing:
Chinese officials insist the notorious Beijing air will be cleaner by August, making such contraptions unnecessary. Concerned about the pollution, the U.S. Olympic Committee is distributing a high-tech mask, developed in secrecy, to its more than 600 Olympians. If athletes deploy it, they risk insulting the hosts. Then there's the geek factor.
"I probably will want to wear it," says the 26-year-old Mr. Shoemaker, who plans to have his mask on nearly all the time he's in Beijing when not competing. "Whether I will be allowed to is a different issue."
USOC officials in charge of creating the top-secret masks given to US athletes say the biggest threat from pollution isn't poor Beijing performance but lingering effects that could be to the detriment of performance years down the road.
As an aside, it is a life goal of mine to have the WSJ do one of these profile sketches of me. So jealous...
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